8/13/10

Image via WikipediaSandwiches became part of the national cuisine in 1840 when Elizabeth Leslie Cook included a sandwich recipe in her cookbook that it appeared in the local cuisine of the United States.

Since then it has become a fact that "the average U.S. citizen eats about 200 sandwiches a year and the average child will consume an estimated 1,500 peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches before graduating high school."

I suppose August is as good a time as any to eat a sandwich, maybe at the beach, or in the car while taking a road trip. Speaking of road trips, you might want to bring along Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. The first fourth of the book focuses on a petroleum-based sandwich, ordered at a drive-in and eaten in the car.

Meanwhile, some toothy quotes:

"I have made it a rule never to eat more than one sandwich at a time." -- Mark Twain

Image via Wikipedia"Ever since I was a young boyI've played the silver ball" -- Pete Townshend

When Pete wrote those lines he was probably in his late 20's, but pinball had been around for years before that. But, in the 21st century it's been overtaken by video games so much that actual pinball parlors have become odd fusions of museums and nostalgia pits.

So, when I saw a news article talking about a New York city who banned pinball, I had to check the date -- was this some sort of weird retro posting from the 50's? As the news article quotes: "it's like 'Footloose' -- except we actually care about what's being banned."

Turns out, yes, the ban has been on the books for years, but not enforced until just recently. The CNN video doesn't explain why the city decided to apply the law, but the owner faces a fine of up to $1000 a day if he stays in business.

Boing-boing, however, explains that the reason for the shutdown is due to noise complaints. "The issue is noise and only noise," says Steve Gold, the mayor of Beacon. You can read his comments here.